Travis Goedken is the city manager of Decorah, Iowa. He joins Norm to talk about the practices and reforms that are making Decorah strong, including making its budgeting easier to understand for residents and finding creative loopholes in restrictive state housing laws. (Transcript included.)
Read MoreDavid Jenkins is a city councilor and Local Conversation leader in La Plata, Maryland. He joins Norm to discuss his work with the city’s budget, particularly his efforts to share financial information in a simple way that lets residents participate in the budgeting process. (Transcript included.)
Read MoreJosh Stewart is an advocate from Littleton, Colorado. A year ago, his 12-year-old son was struck and killed by a car while biking to school. Since then, Josh has been relentlessly pushing for safer streets in his community. He joins Norm today to share his story and what he’s learned over the last year of advocacy work. (Transcript included.)
Read MoreIn this Bottom-Up Short, Norm is joined by Christian Schick, a Local Conversation leader from Virginia. His group has built a lot of momentum in the past year, and Schick talks about how they did that in a productive and helpful way, particularly while juggling local elections. (Transcript included.)
Read MoreVarsha Gopal is an architect from Chennai, India. She joins Norm today to discuss discuss two research projects she recently conducted in her city and what they taught her about thriving cities, urban design and community engagement. (Transcript included.)
Read MoreIn this episode, Norm is joined by Andrew and Anna Carley, Local Conversation leaders from Michigan. They discuss how they became one of the go-to groups that city officials turn to when they’re considering policy changes.
Read MoreSpencer Coyne is the mayor of Princeton, British Columbia. He joins this Bottom-Up Short to explain how he’s implementing the Strong Towns approach in his city, including how to incrementally reform a zoning code and how to do a lot with a small amount of funding.
Read MoreIn this episode, Local Conversation leader Michael Bassili explains how his group created a parking campaign that convinced their city council to eliminate parking mandates in their downtown.
Read MoreIn this special episode of Bottom-Up Shorts, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Edward Erfurt, chief technical advisor for Strong Towns, to discuss real-world examples of a transformative 4-step approach to public investment.
Read MoreIn this episode, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Jake Loftis, a pastor and Local Conversation leader. They discuss the ways that North America’s built environment can lead to social isolation and how Loftis used his local paper to combat that isolation.
Read MoreIn this episode, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Joshua Hopkins, the newly elected mayor of Chugwater, Wyoming, to discuss how a rodeo arena he built is benefiting his community.
Read MoreIn this episode, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Sully Israel, a Local Conversation leader, to discuss his group’s efforts to keep their city’s main street closed to cars.
Read MoreIn this episode, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Ken Kunka, a consultant and coach for small-scale developers, to talk about the ways he helps people build stronger communities.
Read MoreIn this episode, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Julie Emery, a Local Conversation leader, to discuss how her group started their bus bench building program and how it’s evolving.
Read MoreIn this episode of Bottom-Up Shorts, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Sarah, a Local Conversation leader, to talk about the bike racks she and her friends have been building and installing around their city.
Read MoreIn this debut episode of Bottom-Up Shorts, host Norm Van Eeden Petersman is joined by Manav Sharma, a Local Conversation leader, to discuss his group’s use of stickers in their advocacy.
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